Brown glazed earthenware sugar bowl with yellow transfer-printed “willow-style” decoration, measures 4-1/2″ tall. For many years this type of pottery was called “Portobello ware”, referring to the area in Scotland where these pieces were made.
Most likely an itinerant tinsmith replaced the original broken pottery lid with one nicely made of tin, with a push pin shaped knob.
This example shows what the original lid may have looked like.
Photo courtesy of Dora Landey Antiques
I love finding sets with matching inventive repairs, such as these three English jugs found together in Maine.
The largest jug is 6-1/2″ tall and has blue bands and earthworm decoration, made from slip.
There is an elegantly shaped tin replacement handle with straps, showing remains of the original broken handle.
The middle jug is 5-3/4″ high with a bold design of blue and green bands.
The crimped tin strap at the top front of the jug has corroded.
The smallest blue striped jug is 5″ high.
A flimsy tin replacement handle is now bent and rusting.
This almost identical jug is intact without the abuse of my trio.
Photo courtesy of Louwers Antiques
Colorful pearlware baluster shaped coffee pot from England with double repairs and “King’s Rose” pattern decoration. Pot stands 12″ high, and has seen better days.
The base, riddled with large chips and no longer able to support the pot, was repaired with tin replacement in the middle to late 1800’s.
The ill-fitting domed lid, possibly from another piece in the set, originally had a skep shaped knob. This replaced knob, made of iron and looking like a large push pin, has been bolted through the top of the lid.
An astonishingly similar coffee pot, in wonderful condition, boasts its original base and finial.
Photo courtesy of Christie’s
A tilting teapot invented in 1905 by the Earl of Dundonald from Scotland and coined “Simple…Yet Perfect”. The unique design allows the tea to brew in the built-in infuser shelf as the pot lays on its back, tilts halfway up to drain the hot water from the infuser, then sits upright, ready to pour. Teapot measures 5.75 inches high, 6 inches wide.
The replacement lid is made of Britannia metal (aka britannium), a composite made up of 93% tin, 5% antimony & 2% copper.
The ornately decorated bottom is visible when in use.
An identical teapot with its original lid, seen tilted.
Photo courtesy of Southworks Antiques
This tiny Wedgwood pepper pot was made in England in the late 1700’s and stands a mere 2-1/2″ high.
The beautifully scalloped and beaded sterling silver rim masks unsightly chips to the base.
A faint WEDGWOOD mark can be seen on the bottom of the pot.
A perfect, larger pepper pot with an unblemished base.
Photo courtesy of Starr Antiques
Little girls were given fragile miniature tea sets such as this one, to practice their homemaking skills and to prepare themselves to become good wives, mothers and hostesses. This drabware soft past pottery set from the early 1800’s was made in England.
The teapot, with replacement metal handle & strap, measures 3-1/2″ tall.
I feel badly for the little girl who accidently broke the teapot, but I am glad her parents took it to their local tinsmith to be repaired, so it could one day end up in my collection.
A charming English pottery jug from Staffordshire measures 6-1/2″ high, with colorful relief images of children and dates from the early 1800’s. One side shows a boy, a girl holding a doll and their dog and is marked “Sportive Innocence”.
The other side shows the girl and boy fighting and is marked “Mischievous Sport”.
A metal handle was firmly put in place when the original handle broke off, most likely by mischievous children!
This jug is shows what the original molded handle looked like.
Photo courtesy of John Howard
English soft paste pottery teapot in the new oval shape, decorated with folksy bird decoration and unusual “S.T.” initials, measures 11″ long and 5-3/4″ high. My mother purchased this wonderful teapot in the mid-1970s, where it sat on a shelf in our kitchen for over 20 years. It was recently given to me as a birthday gift and is a welcomed addition to my collection.
The same naive decoration is on both sides of the teapot.
A simply formed tin lid from the mid-1880’s replaced the original lost or broken lid.
This miniature tea set has a similar peafowl decoration.
Photo courtesy of John Howard
An English pottery pearlware footed cream jug with cobalt blue transfer decoration, measures 5-1/4″ high.
This was purchased in London at the start of my collecting antiques with inventive repairs.
It remains one of the favorite pieces in my collection.
The broken handle was faithfully reproduced in woven rattan and I have yet to see another example like it.
The original handle, as seen on the same shaped jug below.
Photo courtesy of Merlin Antiques
A surprising blend of cultures merge when this English cast brass candlestick was attached to a carved Brazil nut pod, after the brass base broke off.
Candle holder with replacement base stands 6.75 inches tall and the repair was most likely done in South America in the early 1900s.
This typical brass candle holder shows what the original base might have looked like.
Photo courtesy of Denhams
Photo courtesy of The Spice Necklace